Sky fights for rights to Sydney

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Sky Channel is consulting legal counsel with a view to taking
the Australian Jockey Club and Sydney Turf Club to court, and it
may be as early as next week.

The AJC and STC are already in the middle of a Supreme Court
battle with Racing NSW, and the state's ruling body has summoned
ThoroughVisioN into the stoush.

TVN is owned by the AJC, the STC and Racing Victoria. Now TVN is
tipped to haul Racing NSW and Sky Channel into court, alleging they
have contravened the Trade Practices Act.

It is all part of racing's broadcasting rights war.

The action took place yesterday while the provincial and country
clubs of NSW signed lucrative, non-exclusive broadcasting rights
deals with Sky Channel.

It was a day on which Racing NSW confirmed that the AJC and STC
had signed broadcasting rights agreements with TVN, which the
ruling body had gone to the Supreme Court to prevent.

"It looks as though they've entered into agreements which are
against our specific directions," Racing NSW chief executive Peter
V'Landys said yesterday. "We have no alternative but to take TVN to
the Supreme Court with the STC and AJC."

The parties are due back in the Supreme Court on April 26.

Sky Channel's chief executive Peter Caillard is concerned the
Sydney clubs have signed with TVN, saying that when Sky held the
broadcasting rights, the contract included "first and last right of
refusal" when it came time to sign up new rights holders.

"They [AJC and STC] have not approached us with an offer,"
Caillard said yesterday. "We say they had to approach us before
giving anyone else the rights, including TVN. We are speaking to
legal counsel now."

But TVN chief executive Peter Sweeney last night sent letters to
Racing NSW chairman Gary Pemberton and Caillard claiming they might
have breached the Trades Practices Act when dealing with provincial
and country clubs.

Sweeney said the arrival of TVN meant racing in NSW would be
better off by about $25 million, while its offer to the provincials
included "equity in TVN providing the clubs with unprecedented
control of their own product".

"Prior to TVN entering the market, Sky Channel had decreased
payments to the racing industry," Sweeney said. "Now TVN is a
reality and suddenly Sky are able to afford to offer more money to
racing than ever before."

Caillard was thrilled the country and provincial clubs had
signed up, with "90 per cent of our existing product" on board, but
Victorian racing is set to go with TVN as of May 3.

Caillard is confident the majority of registered clubs and pubs
around the country will take the Sky Channel picture in preference
to TVN.

Sky Channel is set to pump an extra $4 million annually into the
coffers of the non-metropolitan clubs. Adding further spice to the
contract was a 50 per cent stake in any new media rights deals Sky
Channel is able to strike.

Clubs will make huge savings, with Sky Channel no longer
charging for "Late Mail" and live race-day hostings, while the
non-exclusive part means TVN may take the non-metropolitan clubs'
pictures but Sky Channel would cut their payments dramatically.

Gosford Race Club was left out on a limb yesterday morning when
the other four provincial clubs signed with Sky Channel.

But it convened an urgent board meeting at 1pm and later agreed
to sign the Sky Channel contract, which runs until 2015.

Hawkesbury Race Club chief Brian Fletcher said: "We're getting
closer to the money we've deserved. My board felt Sky Channel had
facts and figures that could be substantiated. We weren't 100 per
cent sure with the TVN model."